Two Samoan families who invested $700 in the OneCoin cryptocurrency are worried they will not get any returns from their investments.

Pouli Suaesi, who is 72-years-old and hails from Vaie'e, told the Samoa Observer that he invested $200 tala in OneCoin but is now uncertain if he will ever get a return from his investment.

He said he only made the investment in the cryptocurrency in a bid to ease his family's financial challenges. And investors were given until December last year to receive their payout, but have so far not received their payments.

He added that they contacted the promoters of OneCoin whom they made the deal with, but were told to wait for a month this year.

"I was in New Zealand when my family decided to join this and I knew it was risky. But these days, we need to make our own money and that was the mentality for joining One Coin," he said. 

Mr. Suaesi said he returned to Samoa to help his wife and children try and recover their money and he went on to describe the scheme as "unprofessional" and "risky" because of the false promises by the promoters of One Coin. 

Another investor, Tina Laulu from Nuufou, echoed similar sentiments and revealed that she gave $500 tala to the proponents of OneCoin and was advised she will get her windfall in November last year. 

"The only purpose of investing was so that I could maybe earn a bit more and besides, a lot of people have already joined as well so why wouldn't I be interested?"

Mrs. Laulu says she could get $500 any day, but hopes that the allegations about OneCoin are not true so she would get her money back.

In a statement issued by the Central Bank of Samoa, following the release of the New Zealand Police report, OneCoin was described as a “scam” due to having features of both types of scams – Ponzi Scheme and Pyramid Scheme".